HISTORICALLY DRAPED GARMENTS: THE SAMPOT

A sampot is very similar to a sarong and a dhoti. This traditional, national garment of Cambodian, is worn draped around the bottom half of the body.

"The sampot dates back to the Funan era when a Cambodian king ordered the people of his kingdom to wear the sampot at the request of Chinese envoys."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampot

This garment is worn by all classes and even preferred over Western clothing because of the ease of dress and comfort.

HISTORICALLY DRAPED GARMENTS: THE PAREO

Another draped garment is the pareo. This is a wrap around skirt worn by Tahitian women. It serves to cover only the bottom half of the body and is brightly colored. In ancient Tahitian times women went bare at the top and covered their bottoms with the pareo. As western influence in Tahiti increased they began to drape the pareo over the upper half of the body to show modesty. Today we see many modern pareo's worn at the beach as cover-ups. The word pareo has become synonymous with any wrap that is worn in this fashion.

HISTORICALLY DRAPED GARMENTS: THE DHOTI

The dhoti is a traditionally draped garment worn mostly by Indian men, "It is a rectangular piece of unstitched cloth, usually around 7 yards long, wrapped around the waist and the legs, and knotted at the waist."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhoti

The accompanying piece varies in different parts of India. Most of these pieces are also non stitched and draped except when worn with western style oxford shirts.

TAILORED GARMENTS: ORIGINS OF THE VEST

The vest is a tailored piece that is customarily worn with a suit. Lately it has served as a stand alone piece and a fashion staple for women and men alike.

"According to Samuel Pepys's diary, the vest, or, as it the Brits more formally know it, the waistcoat, was first worn by King Charles II of England in 1666 and came down to the thighs." Without a vest, one could be seen as undressed. They were made of many fabrics like silk, brocade, wool, etc and served often times as the most elaborate piece of clothing.

THE FIRST TAILORED GARMENT: COTE HARDIE

The cote hardie is known as the first tailored garment and was worn by both men and women around Medieval times. It was a "close-fitting Medieval tunic worn in two lengths: by men covering the buttocks and belted around the hips; worn full-length by women and often unbelted." These garments are characterized by a row of buttons down the center front or center back and also along the sleeves. This was not found in my research, but I speculate the modern day vest evolved from the cote hardie. I believe it was a natural progression considering the cote hardie was layered on top of voluminous sleeves,etc.

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Cote+Hardie&offset=0

TAILORED GARMENTS: THE TAILCOAT

The tailcoat is one garment that was designed out of necessity. Historically, the cutaway front made it easier for the wearer to ride a horse. As time went on this style of tailored jackets became the standard for formal wear. This coat evolved into various cuts, such as the dress coat, the English cut away coat, and a variation was worn in the British infantry and was called the red tail coat.

Marie Antoinette in a court dress of 1779 worn over extremely wide panniers

SEXUAL ENHANCEMENT
Because of the nature of humanity and our willingness to preserve and populate, sex has always played a major role in sustaining our population. This drives us to accentuate the desired parts and strut in an attempt to call to the opposite sex. This may mean different things in different cultures. In this example we see the panniers(side hoop) used to accentuate the form of a woman's hips. You can imagine the amount of space a garment like this enveloped.

Dogan Hunter's Ceremonial Costume Mali 59"x 54" Cotton, leather amulets and fringes, mirrors and cowrie shells W-4202

CEREMONIALISM
Ceremonial dress is nefarious for bringing about a desired atmosphere to the event in celebration. Here is an example of ceremonial piece from Mali worn in times of hunting or battle. This tunic is covered with protective charms and sayings written from the Koran that were thought to protect the warrior.

GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Dressing in similar ways to identify with a bigger group is characteristic of Group membership. Below is a group of teenagers that refer to themselves as “Greasers”. The group is fond of the 1950’s era popular for slick hair, denim, leather jackets and white tee shirts.

GENDER DIFFERENTIATION

Men and women have traditionally differentiated between their sexes with nuances in dress and decoration. Facial hair is notoriously worn by men as women prefer to keep cleanly shaven, groomed faces. This may be in part because men grow more facial hair because of larger amounts of testosterone produced in their body.

DECORATION
The greatest way that people can show differences in their appearance is through different hairstyles. Below are a few examples of some exotic hairstyles worn for personal expression.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Human invention is responsible for creating incredible possibilities. A wetsuit is one of those inventions that serve various functions. A Wetsuit is a garment, usually made of neoprene, which is worn by people planning on engaging in underwater activities.gin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->